Advances in COVID-19 Prevention and Treatment Enabled by Structural Biology Research

May 11 - May 12, 2021
Virtual

Workshop during the Virtual APS/CNM User’s Meeting

Broadly, the workshop will present areas where structural biology research, including macromolecular crystallography and cryoelectron microscopy, intersects with in vivo, in vitro, and in silico studies of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19.  More precisely, the topics will include (a) viral biology, (b) vaccine, therapeutic, and diagnostic antibody studies, and (c) small-molecule drug discovery as it relates to viral proteases and other viral proteins. In addition, as this year’s events emphasize the need for a coordinated, long-term strategy to prevent future pandemics of zoonotic origin, a broader One Health perspective on viral pathogens will be presented.

Join us to listen to a great selection of speakers: Pamela Bjorkman, Andrea Carfi, James Davis, Alice Douangamath, Haley Dugan, Yogesh Gupta, Robert Hoffman, Nicholas Hurlburt, Andrzej Joachimiak, Christine Kreuder Johnson, Youngchang Kim, Fang Li, Jonna Mazet, Jason McLellan, Andrew Mesecar, Fang Li, Arvind Ramanathan, Erica Saphire, Karla Satchell, Natalie Strynadka, Drew Weissman, Ian Wilson, and Cheng Zhang.

Agenda: https://www.aps.anl.gov/sites/www.aps.anl.gov/files/APS-Uploads/WK9%20Agenda.pdf

This workshop is hosted by Michael Becker (GM/CA@APS), Karolina Michalska (SBC-CAT), and Kay Perry (NE-CAT).  It is part of the Virtual APS/CNM User\'s Meeting and will be held from 10AM - 3PM Central Time on May 11 and May 12, 2021.  To attend the workshop, register (for free) for the APS User\'s Meeting and choose WK #9.  You must select both sessions, separately, to register for the workshop.  

The last day to register for the Virtual 2021 APS User\'s Meeting is April 19, 2021.

https://www.anl.gov/register/UserMtng2021

Les Houches-TSRC Protein Dynamics Workshop

May 16 - May 21, 2021
Ecole de Physique des Houches, France

This workshop is a forum for presenting, teaching and discussing results from the application of state-of-the-art experimental (including, but not limited to, optical spectroscopy, NMR spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography, XFELs, electron microscopy, AFM and scattering methods), and theoretical and computational approaches to studying protein dynamics.

Instruct-ERIC Course in Biophysics, Structural Mass Spectrometry, and X-ray Techniques

May 24 - May 27, 2021
Virtual

2nd COMPPÅ Symposium on Membrane Protein Production and Analysis

June 9 - June 11, 2021
Roy and Diana Vagelos Education Center at the Columbia University Medical Center

The 2nd COMPPÅ Symposium on Membrane Protein Production and Analysis will be held from 30 July - 1 August 2020 at the Roy and Diana Vagelos Education Center at the Columbia University Medical Center.  Topics will include sample preparation, structural and functional characterization and computational anaylsis of integral membrane proteins.

EMBO Practical Course High throughput protein production and crystallization

July 5 - July 13, 2021
Marseille, France

71st ACA Annual Meeting

July 30 - August 3, 2021
Virtual

Scientists interested in molecular and materials structure with specialties in biology, chemistry, geosciences, materials science and more will converge virtually for the 71st Annual Meeting of the ACA. The theme for the 2021 meeting is “Structural Science Awakens,” which celebrates the ACA’s new tagline “The Structural Science Society.” Scientific sessions and workshops will highlight new developments in single-crystal and powder diffraction, scattering, cryo-EM, micro-electron diffraction, and advanced capabilities at national x-ray, neutron, and EM facilities.

FEBS 2021 Advanced Course

August 9 - August 14, 2021
Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic

The practical crystallization course is in fact the 9^th run of the FEBS practical courses named “Advanced methods in macromolecular crystallization“, organized since 2004. The planned course (for undergraduate, postgraduate students and postdocs with an interest in macromolecular crystallization) is rather different from the established courses in protein crystallization. The course is designed to bring over the message of the benefits of more rational approaches to macromolecular crystallization and is aimed at a healthy mixture of advanced theoretical discussions and laboratory experiments. To achieve this goal, we have invited a number of prominent experts in the field as a teachers and tutors.

The course is designed to bring over the message of the benefits of more rational approaches to macromolecular crystallization. It consists of theoretical lectures, seminars as well as practical work and demonstrations (lectures 40%, practical work 50%, discussions 10%). For crystallization experiments, typical recipes using commercial proteins will be used. In addition, students can bring their own proteins and carry out crystallization trials on these during the course.

A poster section is planned in order to encourage participants to present their own work.

The course will be held at the Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia Ceske Budejovice (http://www.prf.jcu.cz/en/documents/faculty-of-science.html) in hystorical town Ceske Budejovice located in southern Czechia (https://www.budejce.cz/en/)

Subjects of the practical exercises within the course:

1. Conventional techniques and their modifications, crystallization of own proteins using commercial screening kits - using standard crystallization techniques, modification of conventional techniques, using oil, commercial screens (material: commercially available proteins + students’ own proteins)
2. Crystallization of membrane proteins in lipidic mesophases
3. Microfluidic system – crystallization in nanovolumes
4. Automates for crystallization – crystallization robot demonstration, microbatch method, \"Random\" Microseeding
5. Dynamic light scattering – introduction to the technique and demonstration
6. Protein crystallization using the GCB - GAME and other methods using capillaries, preparation a large and small diameter capillary counter diffusion for neutron diffraction
7. Observation of crystal growth / Seeding – check of crystallization set-ups, application of seeding techniques to improve crystal quality
8. The secret life of your crystallization drop
9. Trace Fluorescent Labelling for Protein Crystallization Screening
10. Evaluation of crystallization trials with the UVEX microscope
11. Practical considerations for the crystallization of protein-nucleic acid complexes
12. Crystal mounting and freezing – crystal mounting using capillaries, mounting to nylon loops and freezing in liquid nitrogen, crystal storage and transport
13. Practical crystallography – how to perform a diffraction experiment?
14. Single-particle cryo-EM
15. Intracellular protein crystallization
16. Crystals for XFEL

25th IUCr Congress

August 14 - August 21, 2021
Prague, Czech Republic

Modern crystallography is an interdisciplinary subject covering structural biology, pharmacy and chemistry to physics and materials science. It includes the study of protein structures and also the crystals structures and microstructures of minerals, new functional materials, nanoparticles, bulk materials, and thin films. It is interested also in the relationship between the structure and function of materials. Important related topics is development of instrumental techniques for structural characterization of materials including large facilities XFELs, synchrotrons and neutron sources but also continuous improvement of laboratory equipments, development of optics, better and faster detectors.

The core methods of crystallography are X-ray and neutron scattering. However, mainly in last decade, it includes electron diffraction and microscopy, NMR and different spectroscopies. This development also allows investigation of structural changes under extreme conditions such as high and low temperatures, high pressures, time-resolved studies, different in-situ experiments in external fields (magnetic, electric), chemical reactions.

The scope of the congress comprises all this. Moreover, this is the 25th anniversary congress and completes one era of these congresses that started in 1948.

The congress programme is prepared by the International Programme Committee representing mainly the IUCr commissions that are also the main focus of the congress: Aperiodic Crystals, Biological Macromolecules, Quantum Crystallography, Crystal Growth and Characterization of Materials, Crystallographic Computing, Crystallographic Nomenclature, Crystallographic Teaching, Crystallography in Art and Cultural Heritage, Crystallography of Materials, Electron Crystallography, High Pressure, Inorganic and Mineral Structures, Magnetic Structures, Mathematical and Theoretical Crystallography, Neutron Scattering, NMR Crystallography and Related Methods, Powder Diffraction, Small-Angle Scattering, Structural Chemistry, Synchrotron and XFEL Radiation, XAFS.

Membrane Protein Expression, Purification and Characterization (mPEPC2)

September 7 - September 14, 2021
Hamburg, Germany

Integral membrane proteins (IMPs) are encoded by 20-30% of all open reading frames and provide key functions in the cell. Due to their hydrophobic nature, they are more difficult to study and structural information is lagging far behind their soluble counterparts. This EMBO Practical Course trains PhD students and early career postdocs with the latest developments in membrane protein production, characterization and structure determination methods. Modern protein expression techniques in various hosts will be presented and students will get acquainted with state-of-the-art approaches for studying structural and dynamic aspects of membrane proteins. An attitude to combine protein purification and characterization will be taught to impress the necessity on the students that proteins have to be conditioned with care to achieve structural information. The presence of a crystallization and cryo-EM facility as well as beamlines for SAXS and macromolecular crystallography at the venue will be employed to perform integrated structural biology experiments. The course has an emphasis on practicals in small groups, and a \"Meet the scientist\" session at the beginning of the course will ensure a close interaction between students and tutors. The aim is to inspire the students to apply the newly acquired knowledge and to maintain interactions among themselves and the tutors afterwards.

Accepted students are encouraged to bring their own samples (frozen state) for quality control, crystallization and negative stain EM. Precise shipment conditions and information will be provided to the selected applicants.

2nd French Integrative Structural Biology Congress

November 29 - December 3, 2021
Paris-Saclay, France

The Integrative Structural Biology Meeting is organized by the Association Française de Cristallographie and the Société Française de Biophysique together. BSI 2021 is the second edition of the meeting. Our goal is to strengthen the links between the structural biology and biophysical communities.

The 2nd French Integrative Structural Biology Congress is to be held in the Paris-Saclay campus from the 29th of November to the 3rd of December 2021.

The meeting will bring together French and international scientists working in the fields of Structural Biology and Biophysics in an inspiring environment of scientific exchange and discussion. This will be a unique opportunity to bring together for the second time in France scientists from multidisciplinary communities in X-ray crystallography, liquid- and solid-state NMR, electron microscopy, mass spectrometry, biophysics, and computational methods. We expect 200 scientists (students, engineers, as well as private and academic researchers).

72nd ACA Annual Meeting

July 29 - August 3, 2022
Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfront, 1401 SW Naito Parkway, Portland, Oregon 97201 USA

The ACA Meeting is an annual event providing scientists from a wide variety of backgrounds the opportunity to exchange cutting edge ideas and techniques in multiple areas of research. Each meeting highlights various aspects of crystallography and demonstrates their significance to the greater scientific community. Vendors display the latest technology at the exhibit show.  Save the dates and join us!